That's what Partners are for
by Hou5eMou5e
Summary: Just something random that popped into my head. More chapters soon.
1. Chapter 1

He gets the call at midnight.

"Booth." he answers, stiffling a yawn. "Hey. Did I wake you?" Angela asks, but doesn't wait for an answer. "You need to come to the hospital. Brennan.." she starts, but stops herself. At the mention of his partner's name, Booth sits up straight, suddenly wide awake. "Just hurry, Booth. I'll explain everything when you get here." The line clicks and leaves Booth confused and worried. Within twenty minutes, he's showered and dressed and another fifteen minutes later he arrives at the hospital.

Angela is standing at the main entrance, waiting for him. "What happened?" Booth asks while they walk into the building and towards the elevators. Angela sighs, presses a button and turns to look at her friend.

"Brennan was working late. Later than usual, actually. She was apparently still there, when the security guards changed shift, but left shortly after that." A soft 'ding' sound comes from the elevator and they step in. The artist presses another button and the doors close. "She was on her way to her car. They must've waited for her there." She continues and bites her lower lip. "How bad is it?" Booth asks after a moment of silence. Angela opens her mouth to explain what she knows, when another soft 'ding' sounds and the elevator doors open.

The ICU is quiet at this time of night, but not empty. A handful of nurses are making their rounds, checking on their sleeping patients or doing paperwork at the nurses station. A short, blonde woman in her fourties smiles at Booth and Angela as they pass the nurses station and walk around a corner. Everyone is here already and greets him with a quiet not and a grim look on their faces. "You can see her if you want." Angela says from somewhere behind him and he nods slowly. "She's alseep now." the artist adds and Booth feels relief wash over him.

If she's in any pain, he's glad she can't feel it.

He opens the door slowly, steps in and closes it behind himself again. Then he turns to look at her and every bit of colour leaves his face. For a second, he can't move or breathe. Then the beeping of the heart monitor next to her bed pulls him out of his thoughts and he moves. Four, five steps are all it takes him to get to the bed and when he's there, he can't decide if he wants to just sit by her side for the remainder of the night or if he wants to climb into the bed , lie down next to her and hold her in his arms forever.

He decides to sit down on the side of her bed for now, but carefully takes her hand in his and holds it, placing a small, soft kiss on its back. He can't talk, can't find the right words to say anything, so he just sits there in silence, holding her hand, praying that she wakes up soon.

"Booth..?"

He thinks he must be hallucinating, because he could've sworn she just said his name. When he hears her voice a second time, calling for him, he lifts his head and hopes he's not hallucinating.

He isn't, it turns out. Temperance Brennan is awake. Booth smiles, relieved that she's fine for the monent. "Hi." she says, her voice sounding like she hasn't used it in weeks. "Hi." he says back and softly squeezes her hand. "How are you feeling?" he asks, standing up and carefully sitting down on the edge of the bed. She groans softly and closes her eyes for a second. "I don't know how to describe it." she then replies, opening her eyes again. Booth chuckles and nods. "I'll go get Ange." he tells her. "She knows what happened." He stands up and goes to walk towards the door, but stops when he feels a slight tug on his hand. Brennan is still holding on to him and even though she's too tired to speak, he knows that she's asking him to stay.

So he does.

He stays and holds on to her hand as if both of their lives depend on it.

Brennan smiles at him groggily and for a second it looks as if she wants to speak up, but then decides against it. Booth strokes the back of her hand and even though he's been here for at least an hour and has occaisionally updated the rest of the Gang on her status, he hasn't looked at her properly. She's pale and looks like she's been locking herself into her office for the past month. The eye that isn't bruised, is bloodshot and a cut goes along her right eyebrow.

While she slowly drifts back into a hopefully nightmare free sleep, Booth looks at the hand he's holding and realises only now, that it is wrapped up in thick, white bandages that wrap themselves around her wrist and half of her forearm. Anger wells up in his stomach and he has to breathe in and out deeply, once, twice, three times, to not storm out and find the son of a bitch that dared to hurt his partner that bad.

A soft knock from the door pulls Booth out of his angry thoughts. „Who is it?" he asks, trying not to wake his sleeping partner. The door opens and Angela sticks her head through the crack of the door. „Hey G-man. How're you holdin' up?" she asks and quietly steps into the room. Booth lets out a slightly shaky breath, carefully lets go of Brennan's hand and stands up. „She was awake for a bit. I wanted to go and get you, but she wouldn't let me." The artist smiles and pats Booths arm. „Get yourself some coffee. I'll stay here until you're back." She says and sits down on the chair that was occupied by her friend less than ten seconds ago.

Booth nods thankfully, stretches and slips out of the room and into the hallway, where Hodgins, Cam, Arastoo and Sweets are waiting. Jack is asleep on the floor, propped up against a wall and slightly snorring. Cam is sitting on a bench right next to him, sharing it with a very tired looking Lance Sweets. She's the first to notice that he's outside of Brennan's room, so she stands up while trying not to wake up Sweets or Hodgins. „You alright?" she asks, stretching a little after having been sitting on that bench for way too long. Booth wants to answer, but finds that he doesn't actually know, if he's alright or not. „Dunno." he replies, sighing tiredly. „Think they'd let me stay over night?" he then asks and Cam can't help but smile at that. „I'll talk to the head nurse in a bit. Lets get you some coffee first though." she offers and Booth smiles. Coffee is the one thing he needs other than Brennan to be okay again.

While they walk towards the nearest vending machine, neither of them speaks, each too busy with their own thoughts. Booth barely notices them arriving at the vending machine and jumps slightly, when Cam pushes a steaming plastic cup of coffee into his hand, but gives her a thankful nod. The pathologist gets four more plastic cups full of the hot liquid and together, they make their way back to the bench. Sweets has woken up when they get back, and smiles tiredly at the two of them, when Booth hands him one of the cups. Can softly nudges Jack and hands him a cup, when he finally opens his eyes and focuses on his surroundings.

For a few minutes, none of them do anything other than drink their coffees, but then the door to Brennans room opens again and Angelas steps out. She looks as tired as Booth feels and once he's emptied his cup and dropped it into the nearest bin, he quietly thanks them all for being here and promises to call them as soon as he hears any news. They hug him as tightly as they can and then drag their feet towards the elevator. Cam keeps her promise and has a quick word with the head nurse of the night shift and three minutes later, Booth is sitting on a camping bed, that's been used far too many times.

Before he finally goes to sleep for the second time, he sits next to Brennans bed, holds her hand and does nothing but look at her. „I'll find him, Bones." he says, his voice baely more than a whisper. „I promise." He stands up, carefully places her hand next to her thigh and drops a small kiss on her forehead. „Goodnight Bones." he says, after lying down on the bed.

„Goodnight Booth." comes a barely audible whisper from her bed. He smiles, closes his eyes and falls asleep for the second time of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:**

 **Hey all!**

 **Thanks so much to those who reviewed, it means a lot to me.**

 **A few things, before we actually go back into the story:**

 **Updates: I'm currently writing a lot for „Partners" because I've been practically hit by lightning, so there'll be a lot of new chapters coming in the future , so you can all look forward to that.**

 **General questions: My inbox is open (same as everyone else's), so feel free to drop me a meesage outside of reviews, if you want to. It might take me a while top respond, but I will do that eventually.**

 **As for the story: It'll all make sense at some point. Not sure when yet, but I'm sure we'll get there in the end.**

 **ALSO, very important thing before you start reading (I know, I know..). Putting a big fat trigger warning on this one. Don't read if you can't stand rape mentionings.**

 **Anyway, that's it for now. On with the story we go..**

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He's here.

Of course he is. Where else would be he be at a time like this?

She manages to say his name, but has to fight herself to stay awake after that. He says something she doesn't understand and it annoys her immensely. Then a small wave of panic washes over her, when she sees him stand up and clings to his hand with every bit of strength she's got left in her body. Granted, it isn't much, but it's enough to make him stop dead in his tracks. He looks at her for a second and she thinks that if she could actually say more than his name, she'd tell him that she needs him.

She can't though and as much as she hates this, holding his hand is better than nothing. A small voice in the back of her head wonders why she's unable to do anything other than think, but she dismisses the thought in the same second. She can worry about that later, she thinks and enjoys the warmth of Booths hand.

She falls asleep shortly after that and only wakes again for a brief second. He's gone, but instead of him, Angela is now holding her hand. She's talking to her, probably telling her some weird story that makes absolutely zero sense to Brennan. She doesn't know what she'd say, if she was able to talk, but it's the thought that counts – quite literally.

It doesn't take Booth long to come back and when he sits down next to her, she can smell the cheap coffee he just had. He says something to her and she almost misses it through the fogginess of everything. "I'll find him." She hears him say and wonders what he means. "I promise." He adds and now she'd really like to know what's going on. Then the door opens and a nurse comes in, carrying an old, very worn looking camping bed. She shoves a blanket and a pillow into Booths arms, says something to him and leaves again, turning off the ceiling lights.

"Goodnight Bones." She hears him say, because for some reason she's suddenly able to hear him perfectly fine.

"Goodnight Booth." She says, surprised that she had the strength to actually say that. He shuffles on the camping bed and then she can feel his hand wrapping itself around hers

She drifts off to sleep again, smiling just a tiny little bit.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When she wakes again a few hours later, Booth is next to her again.

 _Duh_.That same small voice from the previous night says and she wishes she could roll her eyes at it.

"Angela brought you some stuff." She hears Booth say. He sounds so tired; she thinks and wishes she knew how to make him feel better. As if he's read her mind, Booth sighs and she thinks her heart is going to stop right there and then.

"Temperance."

As ridiculous and stupid as it might sound, she thinks her first name has never sounded better coming from someone else's mouth and she knows that if Angela was here and knew what was going on in her head, the artist would be over the moon with excitement.

Before Booth can say more than that, the door opens and a new voice enters. "Good morning. My name is Dr. Francis, I'm Mrs. –" Booth interrupts him. "She's a doctor." He says and the other man sounds a bit perplex. "Excuse me?" he asks and Booth explains. "She a forensic anthropologist with the Jeffersonian. Got a PhD and all.." He tells the man and she really, honestly wishes, she could move.

If she could, she'd take his hand and squeeze it to assure him that it's fine, even though his protectiveness is nice, in its own way.

 _Typical alpha male_. She hears the little voice chime in.

"Right." Dr. Francis says and clears his throat. "Anyway, I'm here to tell you about _Doctor_ Brennan's injuries." The physician continues. She can hear a slight undertone in his voice, but can't put her finger on it. Booth seems to think the same, because he groans in annoyance, but Dr. Francis doesn't seem to pick up on it.

"Dr. Brennan has suffered a severe concussion, Mr. Booth." Dr. Francis starts. „A number of her ribs are broken as well as her right wirst." He adds and she hears Booth let out a breath he probably didn't know he was holding in the first place. „There.. There's more, isn't there?" He then asks and when Dr. Francis doesn't reply immediately, Brennan instantly knows that something is very, very wrong here.

„Her attackers, whoever they were.." The physician begins after a brief moment of silence. „During our examination, we found evidence of sexual assault."

Brennan tries to focus on the mens voices, she really does. She tries everything to stay concentrated, but nothing she does, works. And then the faint beeping noise to her left picks up its speed rapidly and everything, even the shadows she was able to make out before, everything just goes dark.

And then she drops.

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The sudden, rapid beeping of her heart monitor is the worst sound Booth has ever heard in his life.

„No. _Bones, no_!" He cries out and rushes to the side of her bed to hold her hand, but is pushed to the side, when a team of emergency nurses come running in. He can't speak, let alone form words at all. All he does is stand at the end of the bed and stare at the woman in front of him.

His partner.

His best friend.

 _The love of his life._

He feels as if he's going to have a heart attack. Every bit of color has left his face, just like the night before, when he saw her for the first time. She looked small then, but she looks so much smaller and like a doll made of glass now.

His surroundings are blurry. All he hears is the rapid beeping and the occasional „Clear!" when the emergency nurses interrupt CPR. He prays to every god in existence that she survives, because Lord knows, he wouldn't.

And then, suddenly, and without him noticing Cam is there and Angela too. They take him outside into the hallway and make him sit down onto the bench that Sweets used as a bed the night before.

A single tear forms in the corner of his eye and rolls down his cheek. Then another one and another one, until the damn breaks and he has to wipe his face. Then the first sob escapes his throat and he swallows, trying to hold the next one in. Then Cam, God bless that woman with everything she ever needs, Cam sits down next to him and wraps her arm around his shoulder and that's the exact moment he breaks.

He buries his face in her shoulder, weeping and sobbing like a child and Cam has to really pull herself together, because she _will not_ cry. She will be here for Seeley and hold him and pray with him that Brennan stays the _fuck_ alive.

She holds Booth a little tighter at that thought and whispers soothing things into his ear. Eventually, his shoulders begin to stop shaking and Cam feels him calm down more and more, until he finally lifts his head.

At first, Cam thinks it's because he's out of breath, but then Dr. Francis steps into her field of view and for a second, they both stop breathing.

„She's still with us." he says and Booth leans back against the wall, letting out a shaky, but relieved breath. „Is.. Is she okay? Do you know anything?" He then asks, leaning forward again. Dr. Francis shakes his head and looks at him apologetically. „No, sorry." And then, a split second later,

„But why don't you ask her yourself?"

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 **Lord almighty, what a chapter. Took me almost the whole day to write it, too.**

 **Reviews and all that Jazz make me really happy if I've gotta be honest.**

 **Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:**

 **This took me for everrrrr to write, but to be honest, looking at it, it was worth the wait.  
There's a long ish message at the end for all those guests, who are saying anything remotely negative about this story.**

 **If I don't say this crap now, the negative reviews won't stop and that's not what I'm here for.**

 **Oh and here's the answer to geraghtyvl's question. They wanted to know, if this Fic has a specific place in the Timeline or if it's pre/ post Hannah.**

 **Truth be told, it doesn't. I have no timeline for this Fic, only the amount of time that goes by. Hope that was answer enough, but feel free to ask more, if you want to.**

 **Anyway, enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you thought! 3**

 **Until next time!**

 **And as always, I don't own Bones. Never have and never will. [weeps]**

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He doesn't know what to say.

That sorta thing is becoming a habit he can't seem to shake off, but if he's being honest, he doesn't mind. His throat feels like he hasn't had a glass of water in weeks anyway. He wants to say something, anything, but she takes matters into her own hand, as per usual.

„Hi."She croaks and manages to flash him a quick, yet tired smile. And just like that, the ice breaks. The few feet distance are crossed quickly and when he's finally back at her side and sits down, it takes him a second to focus on something other than her eyes.

„Hi." He says back and can't stop himself from grinning like an idiot.„How are you feeling?„ He then asks, because he can't think of anything else to say. That earns him another tired smile and his heart suddenly doesn't feel so heavy anymore. It feels as if he hasn't seen her smile properly in a long time.

She doesn't really answer, just rolls her eyes and immediately pulls a face, when the motion causes pain. Booth shakes his head and sighs."Not too good then, I guess." He answers for her. She nods carefully and then they sit in silence for a few more minutes.

"You look tired." She says after a while and he nods. "Didn't sleep all that good last night." He replies and scratches the back of his head. "It's alright though." He adds, when he sees her frown. She closes her eyes momentarily and Booth wants to tell her to sleep, that whatever is happening right now, can wait and that she needs to heal. Instead, he reaches for her hand and smiles at her reassuringly.

"What happened to me?" She then asks and as much as he's been dreading it, this is something that needs to be talked about. "What do you remember?" He asks back and watches her, as she tries to remember the previous night. "I was working late." She starts and to him, it sounds more like a question rather than a statement. He says nothing though, only motions her to keep going.

"I was on the way to my car." Her voice sounds shaky and unsure and Booth wonders if, in all the time that they've known each other, that has ever happened. It hasn't, he finds, because Brennan is never unsure of anything. Not this time though. "They must have waited for me." Her voice breaks and Booth wants to stop her from saying anything more, but she steadys herself and keeps talking. „One of them came pretty close, but then I heard Sirens. They ran away and then the next thing I remeber, is Cam's face over mine." She finshes.

Booth doesn't know what he wants to ask her about first. The fact that they nearly beat her to death or the fact that one of them almost.. He shakes his head to get rid of the thought that begins forming in his mind and straightens his back. „The guy.. Did he..?" Booth doesn't have to finish the question, because she shakes her head no. A wave of relief washes through him and he relaxes instantly.

A soft knock comes from the door and then, to Booth's surprise, Max' head pops up. „Hey, sweetie. I heard what happened." He says, steps into the room and closes the door behind himself. Booth notices the white plastic bag in his hand and points at it. „Ice cram, Max? Really?" The older man grins apologetically. „What can I say. Mint chocolate chip is the best medicine for my Tempe." Booth smirks and when Max is next to Brennan's bed, he excuses himself and steps out of the room. Cam is still there and sees that while he was with Bones, Angela, Hodgins and Sweets have joined her.

After a quick update, during which all four of them look very pale, Booth asks if anyone is hungry. „I barely had breakfast this morning, you know." He tells them. „Late breakfast at the diner, then?"Hodgins asks and the others agree. „I'll be right back." Booth says quickly, before they actually leave. Slipping into her room once more, before he leaves with the others, Booth tells Max and Brennan, that he's only a phone call away, „in case you need anything."Five minutes later, he leaves the hospital for the first time in nearly twenty hours.

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Having Max here feels good, she thinks, even though she immediately misses Booth's form next to her bed.

As if Max has read her mind, he smiles at her, hands her a plastic spoon and takes the lid off of the ice cream tub .„Dig in, sweetie." He tells her and she does exactly that. While they eat, she notices that Max keeps shooting her quick little glances and after the fifth time, she puts down her spoon. „Is there something on my face? Besides the obvious." She asks, trying not to laugh, when Max nearly chokes on a spoon full of ice cream. „No, no. Of course not, sweetie." He assures her and she nods, smirking. „I'm just worried about you, that's all." He then adds and Brennan can hear a hint of worry in his voice and maybe something else.

„I'm fine, dad." She says, but it doesn't seem like that statement is making Max particularly happy. It's obvious, that he wants to protest, but he doesn't. They both remain silent and suddenly the ice cream doesn't taste as good anymore. „I'll be back in a second." Max says after a few moments. „I promised Russ, I'd call him." She nods and Max leaves the room. Now that Brennan is alone, she's starting to feel exhausted, so when Max cames back into the room, she tells him exactly that. „I'll be here when you wake up again." He tells her, smiling softly at his daughter.

She smiles back, tiredly, and closes her eyes. Sleep washes over her almost immediately and she drifts off into a dreamless slumber.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

The diner is almost completely empty, so Booth, Cam, Hodgins, Angela and Sweets easily find a Table to sit at. Orders are placed quickly and the initial coffees are delivered. „I feel like I've been in there for a week." Booth starts and leans back in his chair, yawning. The others nod understandingly. „Do we know anything about her attackers?" He then asks and takes a sip of his coffee. „I spoke to the police this morning." Cam tells them. „They looked at the footage of the security cameras, but there was nothing to see. I checked it myself aswell." She says. No one tries to hide their disappointment at Cams words and Booth lets out a small, annoyed groan. „I'll have to talk to Bones again. Maybe she remembers something, other than.." He doesn't finish his sentence, but everyone knows what he means.

Just then, the food they ordered earlier, arrives and they all dig in. The Group spends the next few minutes in a comfortable silence. After the waitress has picked up their plates, everyone for one last cup of coffee and as soon as they step out of the diner, Booth's phone rings.

"Hello Mr. Booth. Dr. Francis here, we spoke earlier this morning." The voice of Brennan's doctor sounds through the speakers. "I have good news for you and Dr. Brennan. Are you still with her?" He then asks. "I stepped out for a moment. As far as I know, she's with her father." Booth tells him. "I'm on my way back now though." He adds while standing up and signalling his friends to follow him. "Alright, I'll wait for you then." Dr. Francis replies and they end the call. "What's going on?" Angela asks, while they walk outside. "Bones' doc called. Apparently he's got news for us." Booth explains. "We'll take my car, we'll be back at the hospital faster that way." He tells them and, grinning slightly, adds, "Sirens."

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 **To those of you who feels the need to give me negative reviews as soon as a new chapter is uploaded:**

 **I've been getting a lot of guest reviews, calling this Story „just another Brennan r*** story, garbage, trash" and many other, very lovely things and I want to explain something to those people.  
 _I. Do. Not. Give. A Single Flying. Fuck. About what you think this Story is._**

 **It is not „just another R*** story", simply because I refuse to write a scene like that.**

 **Yes, I mentioned it in the last Chapter, but only because it was necessary and I will mention it again, _for the sake of the story._**

 **For the record, this Story popped into my head as nothing more than a story about Brennan getting attacked by someone random, Booth finding out and being adorable and then the two of them coping with anything that happenes afterwards. So for the love of god, either stop giving negative rebiwes or stop reading this..**

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 **Jfc, ya'll cray.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I am _so sorry_ for being M.I.A. for the past two weeks.**

 **The heat here was just unbearable (the highest temps went up to 100F) which I'm really not used to, so I was pretty much out for the count ninety percent of the time.**

 **The other ten percent were spent eating ice cream and complaining about how hot it is.**

 **Then a case of „everything I write is shite" aka writers block hit me and on top of that, I decided that hunting for apartements was a thing I had to do aswell.**

 **Things here were (and still somewhat are) just extremely stressful, hectic and overall shitty.**

 **I wanted to say thank you though, to those of you who left so many nice reviews on the last chapter.**

 **That really means a lot to me and I'm pretty much sending virtual hugs to all of you.**

 **Anyway, here's to the next chapter (and you'll notice3 that I actually tried to make this one a bit longer than the others).**

 **Enjoy! Xx**

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Seven pairs of eyes are looking at her.

Actually, only two pairs are. Max and Booth are carefully watching her, to see how she will react to the news. The others are all looking at Dr. Francis, who is standing at the end of Brennan's bed, holding her chart in one hand and sticking his other hand casually into the front pocket of his scrubs. He's in the middle of explaining, how exactly Brennan has to spend the next few weeks (some rest and then maybe some desk work) and she thinks that none of this is actually necessary.

 _At least not in_ your _opinion,_ the small voice from the back of her head cuts in and she has to try her hardest not to smile at that. Instead, she choses to cough politely, which instantly shifts everyone's focus from Dr. Francis to her. „When will I be able to go back into the Field?" She asks, hoping that the man will tell her a date, that's relatively soon. Before he can answer though, Cam shoots her a dirty look along the lines of _Don't you dare say anything against me_ and then says outloud, „If I see you anywhere near the Jeffersonian within the next three weeks, Dr. Brennan, I will be _very_ unhappy with you. I'm telling you this as your friend as well as your supervisor, so please listen to me." She adds.

„Yeah Bones. You can't just go back to work after something like this, act like nothing happened and expect us to be okay with it." Booth follows and then Angela pormises her a Spa day, if she stays away from work until her ribs and wrist have healed up. Brennan sighs and nods, not missing the satisfied grin, that appears on her friend's faces.

„Speaking of which," Dr. Francis cuts in, seemingly having been forgotten about by the group, „Dr. Brennan, I expect you to come in for a follow up appointment in a week. The break on your wrist is not as severe as initially expected, but still bad nonetheless. We'll have to get additional X rays and re apply your cast. Megan from the nurse's Station will help you with that." He explains. Brennan nods again and after Dr. Francis has answered a few minor questions, the man excuses himself and leaves the room.

„Well then." Max breaks the short moment of silence. „Time to pack up and get the hell out of this place, right sweetie?" Brennan smiles slightly. „Yeah Dad." She replies and jokingly adds, „But I'd like to have a shower and get dressed first, before you or Booth throw me over your shoulder and carry me outside." Max only grins for an answer and then ushers Booth, Cam, Jack and Sweets out of the room. Angela stays, „for moral support or whatever" and closes the door behind their friends.

Getting out of the hospital bed proves to be difficult, but eventually, and after a lot of shuffleing around, Brennan is sitting on the edge of the bed. A few moments go by, in which Brennan breathes in and out a few times and then, to Angela's surprise, grabs her friend's shoulder, pulling herself into a standing position. They stand like that for a short moment, while Brennan catches her breath and then, slowly make their way to the en suite bathroom. Showering, washing Brennan's hair and slipping into a pair of cozy looking sweatpants, a t shirt and a matching hoodie, takes them thirty minutes and then Angela is running around, stuffing all kinds of thngs into the black dufflebag that has been sitting on the floor underneath Brennan's nightstand.

After an hour, both women finally step out of the hospital room. It feels good to be up and about again, Brennan thinks while walking towards the nurse's station. A young brunette is sitting at the desk, looking intently at the screen infront of her, but looks up and throws a surprisingly bright smile at her, when Brennan clears her throat to gain her attention. „Excuse me. I believe, Dr. Francis mentioned something about a follow up appointment. My name is Temperance Brennan." She tells the young woman, who immediately nods and pulls a manila coloured file from a stack on her left. The appointment is made quickly and then she's already on her way to the main opening, where Booth, who wasn't with them while Brennan made her appointment, has pulled up his car and is now opening the passenger door for her.

She gives him a small smile, slips into the passenger seat and carefully puts on her seatbelt. „Home or mine?" Booth asks, before closing the door. She has to think about that for a moment, and then surprises him, when she tells him to drive to his apartement and not hers. He wants to ask why, it's obvious, but then he doesn't and closes the passenger door. Angela, Hodgins, Cam, Sweets and Max say their goodbyes and then Booth is sitting in the drivers seat and starts the engine a second later.

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After a quiet drive to Booth's apartement, during which neither of them said more than five words, Booth walks straight into the bathroom and turns on the water, ignoring Brennan's protests that „there's no need for a bath" and that she's just had a shower at the hospital. „Really, Bones? You prefer a dumb old hospital shower to _my_ bathtub, which is the best place to have a relaxing bath in?" He asks with a raised eyebrow and can't help but to smirk, when she replies with the words, „I don't understand what the intelligence of a shower, which is an inanimate object by the Way, has to do with your bathtub."

She shoots him an undefinable look and shakes her head. He swears he heard her mumble „You're insufferable." as she walks past him, but doesn't say anything. Instead, he follows her into his kitchen, where she stands in the middle of the room for a moment. Neither of them speaks, until a faint growl breaks the silence. „Grilled cheese?" Booth asks and moves around her, grabbing a pan and a bag of sandwich bread. „Yeah." She says and moves out of his way. „Why do't you go and sit on the couch for a bit? Get some of that rest the doc prescribed." He tells her, stopping for the moment. She hesitates and wants to offer her help, but Booth has already put down the pan he's been holding and gently pushes her out of the kitchen and into the livingroom. „I will be _right_ back with some delicious grilled cheeses, alright?" Brennan blinks once, sighs and nods in defeat. Booth grins and disappears into the kitchen, from where waves of cheese smell float into the livingroom soon after.

When Booth returns, carrying a tablet with two plates and two beers, he finds a literal ball of Brennan on his couch. The doctor is wrapped up in the blanket that is usually draped over the back of the piece of furniture and stares at the screen. Booth gets closer and realizes, that Brennan isn't actually looking at his flat screen, but instead stares into nothingness. „What're we we watching?" He asks, pulling her out of her trance and hands her one of the plates. She blinks a few times, slightly confused about being pulled out of her thoughts and, instead of answering his question, simply shrugs. Then she reaches for her plate, takes a bite out of her sandwich and begins to chew slowly.

Booth sighs, picks up the remote and switches through the different channels, until he finds the re- run of an old episode of 'Friends'. Leaning back, he takes a bite out of his sandwich as well. Trying to focus on the episode is difficult, because the ball of Brennan next to him is much more interesting to him than whatever is on screen at the moment.

„Stop it." He suddenly hears her say. „I'm not doing anything." He gives back and takes a sip from his beer. „You're staring at me." She continues and shoots that makes him chuckle a little. „I'm just worried about you. That's all." He tells her, his face and mood now serious again. She doesn't reply immediately, just takes another, albeit small, bite out of her sandwich and chews. Just when he's leaned back again and is starting to relax, he feels her move. Then, all of a sudden, she's right next to him and if he had the guts, he'd wrap his arm around her right there and then. To his surprise, she seems to have read his thoughts, because she puts her plate onto the table in front of them, carefully lift his arm and then Brennan is snuggling into his side.

Booth smiles at her, drops a kiss on the top of her head and then they go back to watching the screen. „There's no need to worry about me anymore, Seeley." He hears her after another minute and is surprised to realise that her saying his first name makes his heart skip a beat. „I'm fine now." She adds, bites into her sanwich again and then rests her head on his shoulder.

Booth doesn't think, he's ever been happier in his life. _Other than the day Parker was born_ , he thinks, but adds 'sitting on the couch with Bones and watching TV' to the list of things he definitely cannot live without anymore.

Outside of his filed of view, Brennan smiles.

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